April 2009 MMA News Archive - Page 4

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At 22 years of age, Jon "Bones" Jones has quickly become a rising young star to look out for in the UFC's light heavyweight division. With two wins under the organization's banner—including an impressive decision victory over TUF season one finalist Stephan Bonnar—he’s already making waves in one of the most stacked divisions in the entire sport. Jon sat down with me to discuss his past, his upcoming bout with Jake O'brien at UFC 100, and his plans for the future.

The full article is
Great interview! I had no idea he was only 22, definitely has a bright future in the sport IMO.

Four of the most popular and accomplished champions in mixed martial arts, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Matt Serra, have partnered with Round 5, the leading producer of MMA collectibles, to create figurines that will be included in an expanded Series 4, it was announced today by Barron Lau, Round 5 CEO and co-founder and Damon Lau, president and co-founder. The series, scheduled to be available at retail in July in time for UFC 100, will include the four plus fellow superstars Fedor Emelianenko and Gina Carano. McCarthy, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, will be in stores across North America and at online outlets including www.Round5MMA.com in late May, about a month behind its original schedule.
“With six figurines, Series 4 will be our largest issuance to date,” said Damon Lau. “Adding four more of the biggest names in the sport – with wide fan bases – to what began as an already stacked set is huge for Round 5 and a great opportunity for fans to quickly add to their collections.”
To date, Round 5 has issued two Series of four athletes each: Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Tito Ortiz comprised Series 1 while Rich Franklin, Sean Sherk, Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva were released in Series 2. Series 3 had been planned for an April release, but has been delayed by about four weeks.
“The Series 3 prototypes have been completed and are currently in production,” said Lau. “It took a little longer than we had originally anticipated, but we feel that the finished product is well worth the extra wait.”
Henderson, the last man to hold the welterweight and middleweight titles for PRIDE, has a 24-7-0 career MMA record, competing against many of the best in MMA. “Hollywood” defeated Wanderlei Silva to take his final PRIDE crown, then rejoined the UFC, where he has won his last two bouts. He leads Team USA in Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter television program and will fight fellow coach Michael Bisping at UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas.
Though he has competed for years in the Chinese martial art of Sanshou, the South Vietnamese native Le gained fame in North America by defeating legendary Frank Shamrock via TKO last year in San Jose, Calif., where he trains. Le is unbeaten (6-0) in his MMA career and has begun a career in acting, with several feature films nearing international release.
The Brazilian star Rua, known the world over as “Shogun,” boasts and 18-3 record, last week recording a first-round knockout over Chuck Liddell at UFC 97. He is a former PRIDE champion, winning the Grand Prix title in 2005 with wins over Quinton Jackson, Rogerio Minotoro Nogueira and Ricardo Arona.
Serra, a Long Island, N.Y., native, has compiled a 9-5 MMA mark, earning international acclaim following his first-round TKO of Georges St. Pierre in their first meeting in 2007 for the UFC welterweight championship. St. Pierre won the rematch last year, and Serra is next scheduled to battle Matt Hughes at UFC 98 in May. A Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master, Serra also gained fame as the winner of Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Thales Leites says that he deserves to be criticised for his performance against Anderson Silva at UFC 97 last weekend.
Both he and Silva have drawn criticism from fans, media and UFC president Dana White for the decidedly unexciting fight, Leites for refusing to engage and Silva for not pushing the pace and looking to finish the fight.
"Dana White is right," he said. "He is right, because if they do an event that is the largest in the world, they expect a more aggressive fight."

As a former All-American wrestler at division I Arizona State, Ryan Bader is no stranger to success. While in high school Bader won two state championships and was ranked as high as fourth in the country. While in College he compiled an amazing 120 wins while earning All-American honors twice and he was also a three time PAC 10 champion.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from sources close to the bout that undefeated lightweight Lyle Beerbohm is expected to face off with Duane Ludwig in the main event of a Strikeforce event that will take place on June 19.

UFC light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans can relate to middleweight champion Anderson Silva, if it’s the case that the record-setting fighter is bored with his job.
“I’ve been out there and felt like not even fighting,” he told MMAWeekly.com. “You never know who’s going to show up on fight day. You go out there, and that night, you just don’t feel it. Sometimes you just walk into the arena, and you’re like, ‘you know what, man? Today, I just don’t feel like it. I don’t feel like I got that same spring.’ It just happens like that. Maybe he just woke up and felt like he was rhyming slow that day.

“I think it will be very exciting! He is a tough opponent who is scrappy and likes to clinch and bang. I definitely will want to bang so it should be good!I just fight who they tell me. Ben’s name came up as an available opponent and I said ok…. I think an exciting win in Germany will grant me a title shot. At least, thats what I hope.”

“If you train all the time, it’s easy to peak out and get strong. But if you just try to be a weekend warrior at this sport, it ain’t gonna happen…. After the Brandon Vera fight I just really changed everything up and decided that that’s not how I wanted to go out in my career… Our biggest argument right now is they keep trying to get me out of the gym. They’re saying right now I’m doing too many rounds, my conditioning’s at too high of a level for this far out of the fight. And now they’re starting to panic that I’m going to burn out…. My body fat percentage is pretty obvious if you look at me right now.”

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) exploded into the mainstream, one-by-one a collection of start-up companies with plans for conquering the world of mixed martial arts began promoting shows across the United States.
And one-by-one they closed their doors.
From the WFA to the IFL and most recently Elite XC, brands hoping to survive as an alternative or successor to the Zuffa monopoly have crumbled under failed business plans and fan disinterest.
All except one.

Back to victories after defeating Manny Gamburyan at UFC 94, Thiago Tavares was reportedly scheduled to face Manny Gamburyan at TUF 9 Finale, at June 20th, but the ATT fighter won’t be able to fight. According to his manager, Alex Davis, Tavares suffered an elbow injury and won’t have time to recover for the fight.

Big fight experience seems to make all the difference in the world when it comes to competing for a title in the UFC. When Kenny Florian steps into his fight against B.J. Penn on Aug. 8, he will draw upon his last chance to compete for the lightweight title to help him prepare, while having the knowledge that he can go five rounds with the very best in the world.
Talking to MMAWeekly Radio, Florian said that despite losing to Sean Sherk in 2006 during his first opportunity to wrestle the 155-pound title away from the champion, he knows that fight was what brought him to this point.

Everyone stumbles. Everyone falls. Often at times, people will tend to remember the more negative aspects of life’s trials and tribulations, rather than the moments that really define someone. Those moments, which test a man’s vigor and character are the type of things that Vitor Ribeiro has had to overcome.
Once widely recognized as one of the top lightweights in the world, the Nova Uniao product has had some dramatic changes in his life occur just in the past year and a half alone. After suffering his first loss in a near three-year stretch, to Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, Ribeiro had sustained an eye injury during the fight, which would later require retinal surgery.

If Jeff Curran wants another fight in WEC and to ever get a shot at Miguel Torres, he's got to turn it around fast at WEC 42. Easier said than done-the planned fight in the works pits him against the man Torres just beat to retain the Bantamweight Title-Takeya Mizugaki. WEC 42 is planned for August and may feature Torres vs. Brian Bowles for the title.

DREAM today has confirmed a fight between Tatsuya Kawajiri and Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante for DREAM 9 on May 26 as well as raising the stakes. The winner is in line for a title shot on 12/31 after a title fight between DREAM Lightweight Champion Joachim Hansen and Shinya Aoki at DREAM 10 in August. Aoki's WAMMA Lightweight Title likely will not be on the line.

The mark of a great fighter isn't always found in victories. Many times it's how they respond to defeats.
UFC lightweight Frankie Edgar (9-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that a 2008 decision loss to Gray Maynard helped steer him in the right direction.

One of the most dominating up-and-coming fighters in the world has signed on with the Maximum Fighting Championship.
[Prior to his June 27 pay-per-view fight against Bob Sapp for Prize Fight Promotions], former WWE star Bobby “The Dominator” Lashley will step into the MFC ring on Friday, May 15 at MFC 21: “Hard Knocks” live from the River Cree Resort and Casino and airing live throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico on HDNet Fights.
A chiseled and imposing figure at six-foot-three and 265 pounds, Lashley is the premier heavyweight prospect in all of mixed martial arts.